I only know I never want to let you go.

Apocalypso "Man, It's So Loud in Here" (They Might Be Giants cover)
I bought Apocalypso's CD primarily for this track. I initially couldn't believe that TMBG wrote something so dancefloor ready, but it grew on me and I now love it. Then when I heard that a steel-drum calypso band had covered it, of course I had to make it mine. Pass the pina colada, please.

Jenny Lewis & the Watson Twins "Handle with Care" (Traveling Wilburys cover)
You know those earwormy songs that you were never really into but that get stuck in your head on a regular basis? Well, the Traveling Wilburys' "Handle with Care" is one of mine. (Along with Celine Dion's "That's the Way it Is" and the Perfect Strangers theme song, among many others.) Perhaps now I'll think of this version instead.

Foo Fighters "I Feel Free" (Cream cover)
I'm not naming any names, but a reader once sent this in as a "Belinda Carlisle cover." Um. Uh. No. Belinda did her own version of this, but I don't think that's to whom my beloved Foos were paying homage.

Noes Descamps "Ma Non E Giusto (She's Not There)" (Zombies cover in Italian)
In case you're interested, ma non e giusto actually translates to "but it's not fair." Also if you're interested, I'm a big fan of foreign garage/psych covers. Therefore, I endorse this as "awesome."

The Flirts "I Only Want to Be with You" (Dusty Springfield cover)
Whoa. There's a reason many one-hit wonders are one-hit wonders, n'est-ce pas? Don't get me wrong, I definitely think there's a place for talked-not-sung middle-of-the-road '80s covers. I just don't know where that is. I never thought I'd say that Samantha Fox's version, despite being one of my high-school-era guilty pleasures, was 100 times better than anything. I was wrong.

Lene Lovich "I Think We're Alone Now" (Tommy James & the Shondells cover)
It may seem hypocritical to enjoy this track but not the previous one, but I have to back up my wacky new-wave Yugoslavian sista. I might not find half of her work listenable, but I respect it. And the screechy harmonies grow on you. Really.

Glass Eye "Minnie the Moocher" (Cab Calloway cover)
Someone e-mailed once that they were collecting a slew of "Minnie the Moocher" covers. I can't find evidence of that comment or e-mail, but here's one of the many versions I have—aka one that isn't absolutely horrific. (If that was you making the request, e-mail me again with your info and I'll send along a few others.)

Strawberry ice cream! Raspberry ice cream!

Sorry, no cover in this post. I just wanted to talk for a very short moment about how awesome Paste magazine is. If you are really interested in music or filmmaking as a craft or an art, I highly recommend it. And their online radio is pretty much my new favorite thing ever, even though I can't use Firefox to use it.

While I'm rambling about things not particularly related to covers, I guess I'll finally fulfill my good friend Matt's request to post a non-cover, which I've never purposely done before. But he seems to think my readership would be amused by it, and I can't say he's likely wrong about that. From an e-mail he sent:

Holy Mother of Causality - I just bought a bunch of test pressings at the Salvation Army in Evanston. I'll usually buy test pressings of stuff, but they had a ton of early 80's Alligator Records (reggae label) so I figured someone who worked at Alligator just dumped off their junk, ergo, more reggae albums. I do not currently have any reggae, bonus for me.

On the 2nd blank test pressing, I got a song about junk food. And Ice Cream. And how this guy fucking hates it.

Matt D.

We have know idea who the artist is, but yeah, he really hates junk food:

Unknown Artist "Unknown Title [The Ice Cream/Junk Food Song]" (not a cover, but perhaps one day...)
I love when my friends and I stumble on bizarre outsider stuff. Recently, I went with Matt and his wife Sarah, also my good friend, to Milwaukee (see pictures here), and at least 100 times during the weekend, if not more, one of us would yell out "Strawberry ice cream! Raspberry ice cream!" in homage to this gem. And to think it never saw the light of day ... until now. Or maybe it did and we're just ignorant about anti-junk-food reggae singers. If you have any idea who this is, PLEASE let us know!

Well, I talk about it, talk about it, talk about it, talk about it.

Q: What does a busy gal who can't find the time to post from home do when she realizes she HAS to post something soon?

A: She raids her Yahoo inbox for tracks of varying quality/merit that were sent in by readers and quickly posts them before getting back to work. Thanks, readers!

Note: Some of these files are large, as the computer I'm using currently has no music converter.

Dandiwind "Safety Dance" (Men Without Hats cover)

J Viewz "Smooth Criminal" (Michael Jackson cover)

The Millions "Beautiful" (Christina Aguilera cover)

Zen for Primates "Funky Town" (Lipps, Inc. cover)

The Black Eg "I Will Survive" (French Gloria Gaynor cover)

A quick heads-up/disclaimer/pointers: Unfortunately, as someone who can barely find the time some weeks to post at all, I simply cannot oblige all of you who comment or e-mail asking me to repost tracks I've posted in the past. If I did this, I'd spend what little blogging time I have reposting things I've already posted and never get a chance to post anything new. If there is a track or two that you feel you simply have to have and you have exhausted your options elsewhere (you know you're supposed to be spending your $$ on some of these artists, yes?), feel free to e-mail your request to me at bigfatprettyface AT yahoo DOT com and I will do my best to get it to you. Please keep in mind that I have to weed through about 500 e-mails a week or more, so there might be a delayed response. But I will do my best.

If you're curious to know whether I've posted a specific song or artist before but can't wait until I respond to your comment or e-mail to find out, the best way to check is to Google "copy right" [two words, not one, in quotations] along with whatever artist/song title you're checking on. The first results that pop up are usually my site. In theory you should be able to use Blogger's search function at the top of my page, but quite frankly, it just isn't accurate at all.

So, yeah, that's my long-winded request for now. I do appreciate all of my readers, but I'm only one person, you know? Hmmm. Maybe I'll write a post soon on some of my cover-hunting tricks and favorite sites to help those of you who just aren't getting the results you want. I'll make a mental note of that.

Aaaaaaaaaanyhow, I appreciate the attention and I'm glad you're reading. Love, Liza.

Other places.

I wish I had the time to more frequently point you all in the direction of other blogs featuring covers, but I don't. However, I will tell you that Mocking Music does have an all-cover post up today. Check it out!

You're everything that I've imagined.

There's a new tribute album out there to high school movies of the 1980s called High School Reunion, and I really wanted to like it. It's chock-full of people I like, such as Kristen Hersh, Matthew Sweet, the Dresden Dolls and John P. Strohm. And yet it's quite possibly one of the most boring albums I've ever subjected myself to. The tracks aren't different enough to excite me and I'd much rather listen to the originals. Plus, the whole "let's do songs from '80s movies" schtick has been done and done and done and done. And all of those are better and far more interesting.

[While I'm linking to CD Baby—see last "done" link above—I should probably mention that you die-hard covers fans are missing out if you're not shopping there pretty regularly. Just type the word "tribute" or "cover" into their search engine, and let the good times roll. They're having a sale on a handful of items right now and you can preview tracks before buying and it's a just plain awesome covers resource.]

Aaanyhoooo, the pointlessness of High School Reunion got me thinking about one of my favorite '80s tribute albums, Tannis Root Presents: Freedom of Choice. This was a Planned Parenthood benefit album that came out during my sophomore year of college that I wore the hell out of. I was not a big fan of the grunge movement, per se, but I appreciated the fact that most of the bands were able to take songs with which I was very familiar and make them their own without mauling them completely.

I've posted a track or two from Freedom of Choice in the past, but I couldn't narrow down which to include here. Therefore I'm doing two things I've never done: reposting tracks I'd previously posted AND posting an entire album at once. I doubt it will be here very long, so get it while you can. And, really, it wouldn't kill you to buy it somewhere either new or used. It's a great addition to any tribute collection and is also a great "blare while you're cleaning your apartment" CD.

01 Sonic Youth "Ca Plane Pour Moi" (Plastic Bertrand cover)

02 The Muffs "Rock and Roll Girl" ([Paul Collins'] Beat cover)

03 Erectus Monotone "Destination Unknown" (Missing Persons cover)

04 Redd Kross "How Much More" (Go-Go's cover)

05 Tiny Lights "5'1"" (Iggy Pop cover)

06 Mudhoney "Pump it Up" (Elvis Costello cover)

07 Das Damen "The Wait" (Pretenders cover)

08 Finger "Tainted Love" (Soft Cell cover)

09 It's OK "Wishing" (Flock of Seagulls cover)

10 Yo La Tengo "Dreaming" (Blondie cover)

11 White Flag "Wuthering Heights" (Kate Bush cover)

12 The Connells "I Got You" (Split Enz cover)

13 Big Dipper "Homosapien" (Pete Shelley cover)

14 Polvo "Mexican Radio" (Wall of Voodoo cover)

15 Hypnolovewheel "Antmusic" (Adam and the Ants cover)

16 Chia Pet "Don't You Want Me Baby" (Human League cover)

17 Permanent Green Light "Hero Worship" (B-52's cover)

18 Superchunk "Girl U Want" (Devo cover)

I never thought I'd be the one breaking down.

I was in a really bad mood last night when I got home from work, but when I got to my computer the clouds lifted. For there's no reason to be down when you have Kidz Bop 8 on your side!!! I'm a dork.

Kidz Bop Kids "Take Me Out" (Franz Ferdinand cover)

Kidz Bop Kids "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" (Green Day cover)

Kidz Bop Kids "Caught Up" (Usher cover)

And, as promised, a few more French covers from good Copy, Right? friend Emojk:

Dionysos "I Did Acid With Caroline" (Daniel Johnston cover, in French accent)
I would say that the original of this is my third favorite song with the word acid in the title. First is "The Last Time I Did Acid I Went Insane" by Jeffrey Lewis (who's playing at The Glass House Gallery in Brooklyn on Sunday night, if any New Yorkers are interested). (I also enjoy the follow-up "No LSD Tonight.") The second is "I Sit on Acid" by the Lords of Acid. And then this, despite its repetitive drone. Daniel was wacky, but we loved him for it. Right?

Feist "L'Amour Ne Dure Pas Toujours" (Francoise Hardy cover)
I know I'm supposed to be creaming my jeans over Feist, but I just can't. I mean, her songs are pretty and all, but I don't get the extent of the hype. I like this though. And I LOVE Francoise Hardy.

Les Georges Leningrad "Comment Te Dire Adieu" (comp. Serge Gainsbourg/Arnold Goland/Jack Gold)
Where has this band been? Not something I'd listen to every day, but if Animal Collective can be all the rage with the indie hipsters (am I one of those?), I don't see why these cats (or chats) couldn't be as well.

This is for my people. My ecstasy people.

The first three French tracks here were sent my way by reader Emojk. I've been in a foreign cover mood. Pardon the lack of proper French accent marks in the following. I'm lazy. I may post a few more from the Frenchies later this week.

Etienne de Crecy "Sexy Boy" (Air cover, which doesn't really have enough lyrics to bother translating into French)
Edit: Just learned this is a remix, not a cover. I guess I'll keep it up for a bit in case anyone's interested.

-M- "Close to Me" (Cure cover, in French)
Not to be confused with the M that gave us "Pop Muzik" nor with the slew of other artists who appear to use M as a name, the -M- here is Mathieu Chedid, son of singer-songwriter Louis Chedid. This starts off sounding a bit more like George Michael's "Faith," but we know which came first.

Quincannon "Send Me the Pillow that You Dream On" (Hank Locklin cover, with thick French accent)
I've heard lots of country greats cover this: The Louvin Brothers, Loretta, Dolly, etc. This is not like any of them, but I kinda love it.

Dear Popchor Berlin: I am in love with you. If I ever become a filmmaker, my soundtracks will be rife with your dreary, eerie brilliance. Highly recommended to those who enjoyed TV on the Radio's cover of the Pixies' "Mr. Grieves."

Popchor Berlin "4 My People" (Missy Elliott cover)

Popchor Berlin "How Soon is Now" (Smiths cover)

Popchor Berlin "Grinding Halt" (Cure cover)

You can do what you want to; there's no one to stop you.

Richard Anthony "Toi L'Ami (All my Loving)" (French Beatles cover)
Monday is always a good day for Beatles chanson-style.

Warmen "Somebody's Watching Me" (Rockwell cover)
Some of the guys from Children of Bodom who sound like a heavy metal Weird Al.

The Thermals "Ballad of Big Nothing"(Elliott Smith cover)
Nearly anytime in the past few weeks I've listened to WOXY, they've played this. Granted, I like it and a few of the other tracks on the latest Smith tribute album (To Elliott from Portland) more than I usually like Smith covers*, but WOXY really needs to shake up its playlists.

*Because the majority are so much like the originals I'm not sure why they bother.

Kelley Deal "Fucking Hostile" (Pantera cover)
My favorite track on the Free the West Memphis 3 disc, which is chock-full of covers of metal classics.

Juliana Hatfield "Tomorrow Never Comes" (Dot Allison cover)
Pretty.

Second Run feat. Ramone "Seasons in the Sun" (Terry Jacks [comp. Jacques Brel] cover)
As a child, the original intrigued me because it was so poppy for a song about death. I wouldn't say I liked it though. Since the early 1990s, whenever I hear any version of it, it reminds me of an experimental film an acquaintance of mine named Dara made ages ago that starred my friend Bart, who aired it on his show, Rox. [See the episode here.] This version is insane and pointless, as most trance covers are.

Wolfcry "Enola Gay" (Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark [OMD] cover)
I'm always interested when heavy metal acts cover '80s synth classics I first heard in gay bars. For a minute or two anyhow.

Diamanda Galas "My World is Empty Without You" (Supremes cover)
Not for everyone's taste, but if you like, say, Antony and the Johnsons, you might want to check out someone who paved his way.

Turn our golden faces into the sun.

It looks as if 2006 may well be the year of the random, quick, no-time-for-banter, "look what hit my shuffle play" post. Every time I think I'm going to get on track and create a life schedule that includes a decent chunk of blog time a few times a week, work or TV or *gasp* social engagements keep me from it. But I'm going to try to try. It's the least I can do.

Axel Rudi Pell "Forever Young" (Alphaville cover)
German heavy metal guitar virtuoso attacks nostalgic ballad while apparently taking a painful dump. What is it with guitar virtuosos and their gravelly, constipated-sounding voices?

The White Stripes "Walking with a Ghost" (Tegan and Sara cover)
I saw Tegan and Sara open for Rufus Wainwright eons ago and I hated them. HATED. Of course, that was before they shed their tired lesbian folk schtick and turned into the spritely lesbian pop goddesses of So Jealous. Now I think they totally rule, as does this cover.

The Lucksmiths "There is a Light that Never Goes Out" (Smiths cover)
To quote Elle magazine's Nina Garcia on Project Runway: "Sometimes pretty can be boring."

Rockell and Collage "Can't We Try" (Dan Hill feat. Vonda Shepard cover)
I tell ya, if you're a freshman in high school in the process of breaking up with the first of many boyfriends who'll eventually come out of the closet, hearing the original on the radio really will tear you up inside. But if you're a 33-year-old fag hag spinster in the year 2006, this version will make you spit out your Diet A&W in laughter. And then you'll dance, dance, dance!

Hell is for Heroes "Boy's Don't Cry" (The Cure cover)
I'm always slightly annoyed by punk covers of anything, let alone my beloved Cure, but I must admit there are a few interesting choices in this.

The Bravery "It's All I Can Do" (The Cars cover)
I haven't embraced the Bravery as I have many of the other nu new-wave acts, but this is a serviceable cover, I suppose. If you can get over this guy's overly Morrisseyian whiny drawl.

I go through all this before you wake up.

Here's a very quick pre-lunchtime update. I've been on a live cover kick lately and these are all live covers that have intrigued (aka hit my shuffle play) me of late.

The Dresden Dolls "No One Knows" (Queens of the Stone Age cover)
A few sour notes here and there, but I love the Dolls so much it doesn't matter. Now they just need to come to Chicago on a night I don't already have plans. I swear, I have the worst timing when they come around.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs "Hyperballad" (Bjork cover)

The Jesus and Mary Chain "My Girl" (Temptations cover)

Also, as evidenced in my last post, interesting things can be found over at Google Video. Sure, searching the word "cover" brings up a lot of kids lip-synching to the Backstreet Boys and whatnot, but every so often you'll stumble on something interesting and/or worthwhile. Such as:

Final Fantasy covering Bloc Party's "This Modern Love"

VIDEO: Jenny Wilson and Robyn cover Saul Williams's "List of Demands [Reparations]"

Don't tell me what it's all about.

Sorry, kids, I've been busy and grumpy for the past few weeks. Really grumpy. So I did my best to steer clear of the Internets. But now I'm back and so is my shuffle play, so here's today's random smattering of covery goodness.

Anthrax "The Bends" (Radiohead cover)
Two great tastes that taste great together. Or something like that.

Belaire "Through the Wire" (Kanye West cover)
I say yes.

English Beat "Tears of a Clown" (Smokey Robinson and the Miracles cover)
I'm going a bit old school here, and I approve. I always loved this.

Sarah Brightman "Who Wants to Live Forever?" (Queen cover)
Though not particularly my cup of tea, this is pretty. I tell ya, if you ever want to make your parents freak out with excitement, give 'em tickets to see Sarah Brightman. I got a couple of free tickets once from a label rep and passed them along to my mom and for at least a week I was definitely the Best Daughter in the World TM.

Scooter "Eyes Without a Face" (Billy Idol cover)
I wish I were joking, but it was this song that made me want to learn French. Little did I know then that I'd study it for more than a decade and then do absolutely nothing with it.

Splitsville "I'll Never Fall in Love Again" (comp. Burt Bacharach and Hal David)
Down with love! Too many germs! I love this song and I like this version.

Xentrix "Ghostbusters" (Ray Parker Jr. cover)
I just saw the video for the original the other day and I'd forgotten that all the big stars of the day had cameos in it. Teri Garr, I miss you!

Xiu Xiu "Fast Car" (Tracy Chapman cover)
My longtime best friend Julie had a precocious little brother named Brad who once, during the heyday of "Fast Car," crafted his own version of this song with the following lyrics:

"We had a fast car /
But Liza drove it into a brick wall/
We had to make a decision /
Should we take her to the hospital?"

Awesome.

I keep my distance, but you still catch my eye.

O. M. G.

 

You people are total freaks! For every person that mocked the bulk of the "Last Christmas" covers I put up the other day, there were 10 others clamoring for more. I kept getting "do you have the such-and-such version???" e-mails. Well, here's another Whamful installment. Again, there are still more in my collection, but I really doubt I'll be hunting them out between now and the holiday, so get these while the getting's good. Let's all cross our fingers that my bandwidth holds up.

The Revolvers' track is my favorite here, despite the fact that I usually hate "punk" covers.

Wham's "Last Christmas" as covered by:

Airpanel feat. Karyn White Techno/Trance

Alexia "Oi Kambanes Htypoun (Greek)" Pop

Beatmas/Rubber Band Beatles

Busted Whiny Pop-Punk

Collage Freestyle

DJ Glowy and Snoopie Breakbeat

Fonda Indie Dream Pop

Julsanger Techno/Trance/Hi-NRG

KE4 "Last Christmas I Gave You Acid" Chilled-Out Electronic Mash-Up

Keisha Chante Urban R&B

Yuji Oda feat. Butch Walker J-Pop/Rock

Pas/Cal Indie Chamber Pop

Rap All-Stars Rap

Revolvers Powerpop-punk

Sarge Indie

Soulwax Alternative?

Yoko Watanabe J- Pop (from an opera singer, I believe)

Zecchino D'Oro "Questo Natale (Italian)" Kidz Bop d'Italia

But it's not like Christmas at all.

Aaahhhhh, freestyle*. How innocuous and fun you could be. Sometimes.

Brenda K Starr "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" (Darlene Love/Phil Spector cover)

Sammy C "Little Drummer Boy" (comp. Katherine Davis/Henry Onorati/Harry Simeone)

Denine "Jingle Bell Rock" (comp. Joe Beal/Jim Boothe)

Miguel Reyes "Silent Night"

*NOT RAP!

Come and behold.

Halfby "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer"

Tatsuki Hashimoto "Jingle Bells"

Toshi Akigoto "The Christmas Song"
These three tracks are from a 2003 Japanese bossanova album called Christmas Wonderland, which I surprisingly really like.

Hybrid Kids (Morgan Fisher) "O, Come All Ye Faithful"
I know I just posted a Hybrid Kids track a few entries back, but I find myself trapped like a deer in headlights when I hear Morgan Fisher's covers. This one sounds like the soundtrack to a nightmare in which I'm trapped in a mechanical Christmas funhouse running away from an army of demonic robotic elves. Demonic robotic elves singing about adoring the Christ child, that is, which is even more frightening.

The SmashUp "Coventry Carol"
This just plain cracks me up, and the sad thing is that I can't tell whether my joy is ironic or not.

"Dude, are you being sarcastic?"
"I don't even know anymore."

Banaroo "Bling Bling Here, Bling Bling There (Jingle Bells)"
Oh my. Um. Yeah. Let's make a New Year's Resolution today: No more Aquaesque/Vengaboysian German teen pop acts. "Bling bling in the air," indeed.

Careful what you wish for!

So, a few people have e-mailed or commented that they want Christmas covers. Admittedly, I was quite gung-ho about Christmas covers last December. This year, I just haven't been feeling the same holiday energy. (Seasonal Affective Disorder, anyone?) But far be it for me to deny the masses what they crave. Of course, asking me for ANY covers will run you the risk that I you will hate most of what I post, but you knew that already, I hope.



Wham's "Last Christmas" as covered by:

Asmodi Bizarr

Atomic Kitten

Crazy Frog
There are things even I can't believe have gained popularity anywhere ever, and Crazy Frog is certainly one of them.

Dexter Freebish

Erlend Oye
The best of the lot, by far.

Hawk Nelson

Hilary Duff

Human Nature

Jamelia

Noorkuu

Physical Motion

Raphael "La Ultima Navidad" (That means it's in Spanish!)

Rod Dodd and V/Vm

Roses are Red

Vasco and Millboy feat. Thomas B.

Note: This is representative of only about a quarter of the "Last Christmas" covers I have.

Secret, secret, I've got a secret.

Hey, kids. Just a heads-up that The Monolators have a cover of Eartha Kitt's "Cha Cha Heels" on their main page and a slew of other bizarre covers on their Audio page. Check it out, yo.

Unlike the others, I'll do anything. I'm not afraid. I have no shame.

Themes are cool and all, but I must admit today's selection brought to you by my shuffle play.

Wisecracker "When the Rain Begins to Fall" (Jermaine Jackson & Pia Zadora cover)
There are some covers that don't even have to come close to being good for me to love them. Usually these are covers of songs that are my longtime guiltiest pleasures and I get so excited that ANYONE has covered them that I blind myself into actually loving the cover versions. And, with that said, please allow me to introduce you to this completely awesome German ska cover of this, um, classic by a band who describes their sound as "Madness meets Iron Maiden." Uh, yeah.

The Meat Purveyors "The Madonna Trilogy (Like a Virgin/Lucky Star/Burning Up)" (Madonna covers)
Nothing wrong with a little toe-tapping alt.country Madge style, says I.

Halifax "Straight Up" (Paula Abdul cover)
There's no good defense for someone my age actually watching the horror that was The Real World: Austin, but I did. Ugh. Worst season ever. But it did warm my heart to see holier-than-thou Lacey badmouth Halifax only to wind up wearing a Halifax hoodie a few episodes later. Nothing quite like an indie elitist coming to terms with the fact that it's easier to accept emo punk than fight it. 'Cause nothing's sadder than wasting your time beleaguering the necessity for emo punk when you could be badmouthing your drunken whore roommates.

If you like this track, there's a surprisingly Hot Topic-esque shirt over at Threadless this week you should get to warn everyone how angry-yet-sensitive you are. Click pic below to check it out:



Blah, blah, blah, I think teenagers who think they're "punk" are lame. Blah, blah, blah, emo sucks. Blah, blah, blah, I'm going to go buy a Gang of Four record and prove how cool I am. Whatever. Boys wearing eyeliner are sexy and this song holds a special place in my heart because the first time I ever got totally plastered, this song was popular and my best friend Julie tried to make me sing it the entire ride home in the hopes that it would make me sober up. It was an admirable goal, really, but one that failed miserably.

Dick Rivers "Ces Mots Qu'On Oublie Un Jour (The Things We Said Today)" (Beatles cover in French)
Kind of sounds like a French Elvis album playing at the wrong speed. Also reminds me of Edwyn Collins "A Girl Like You," again at the wrong speed.

Grope "Army of Me" (Bjork cover)
something tells me that this is less a cover of Bjork and more a cover of Helmet covering Bjork, which is one of my least favorite types of covers ever.

Put him in the scuppers with a hosepipe on him.

I started commenting on these tracks last night and thought I might get a chance to finish today, but it's been so long since I posted that I thought I should just go ahead and leave some with paltry information and insights. Basically, these are a handful of experimental/electronic tracks—some more avant-garde than others, some simply electroclash, some just using one or two effects here and there. All potentially insane.

[The Threadless sale ends Thursday, just so you know. They just printed a few new shirts in addition to reprinting a few, one of which I'd peen pining for for ages! Yay!]

Fifty Foot Hose "God Bless the Child" (Billie Holiday cover)
This band from the psych era would actually pretty mainstream and jazz-folky if it weren't for the bizarre electronic noises they chose to throw in over the vocals. Ah, the experimentation of the '60s!

Claude Denjean & the Moog Synthesizer "Big Yellow Taxi" (Joni Mitchell cover)
Wow. It was definitely difficult to narrow it down to one track by this Moog pioneer, but this track definitely makes me the happiest. In fact, I played this for my friends Ray and Eric a week or so ago and we giggled throughout the whole thing. Reminds me of a Casio demo track. Or the soundtrack to my nightmares involving clowns. "Oooooh ... chop, chop, chop!"

Elektric Music "Baby Come Back" (The Equals cover)
Hmm. So this guy once played with Kraftwerk and Electronic, huh? I'd expect this to be far more palatable than it is. Still, it's nice to be reminded of pre-"Electric Avenue" Eddy Grant.

Cylob "Drunken Sailor" (Traditional)
Um. Okay.

Fragments "Nutbush City Limits" (Ike & Tina Turner cover)
I can't find out anything about Fragments except they had a few 7-inches in 1980. Anyone know anything else?

The Droyds "Take Me I'm Yours" (Squeeze cover)

The Droyds "Take Me I'm Yours (Simian Mobile Disco Remix)" (Squeeze cover)
I think I like the remix better, if for no other reason than the "I come across my camel" line makes me giggle.

Hybrid Kids (Morgan Fisher) "You've Lost that Loving Feeling" (Righteous Brothers cover)
If I saw this at an open-mic poetry night, I'd be intrigued. For a minute. Then annoyed. Not unlike Blixa Bargeld reading hardware catalogs.

Brad Walsh feat. Kathy C. "100 Percent Pure Love" (Crystal Waters cover)
I heart Brad Walsh. Visit his music page for some remixes as well as his cover of Stacey Q's "Two of Hearts," which I'm certain I posted or linked to a while back.

Ladytron "Oops, Oh My" (Tweet cover)
I love masturbation jams, so I'm all about this.

Attic Plant "Sexx Laws" (Beck cover)
Again, I don't know anything about Attic Plant, nor can I find any proof that they exist except for the fact that this track somehow wound up in my shuffle play.

Happy December.

I've been sick, hence the lack of posts. Perhaps I'll find the energy tonight.

Until then, David F has a handful of Seu Jorge Bowie covers up.